Saban: Williams interested in return

The Dolphins' coach says many issues must be resolved for the running back to come back.

May 20, 2005|By Harvey Fialkov, Miami Bureau

DAVIE -- Miami Dolphins Coach Nick Saban has left the door open for the return of estranged running back Ricky Williams, and for the first time since his sudden retirement last July, the sentiment seems mutual.

"I talked to Ricky, and Ricky still seems to be very, very interested in coming back," Saban revealed in a roundtable discussion with the media Thursday. "As I've said before, that the things that we discuss, we decided not to talk about them publicly, and I think I can safely say that you all know as much about his situation as I do. There are issues that need to be worked through, and we're all in the process of evaluating those issues."

Those issues have to deal with the league's reported target date in which Williams has to wait for before coming out of retirement. If he announces his decision to come back before July 28, it's believed he would be risking a one-year suspension per the NFL's substance-abuse policy (rather than a possible four-game suspension).

There's the matter of an arbitrator's ruling that Williams still owes the Dolphins $8.6 million for breaching his contract, a sum that the team doesn't have to collect necessarily. Miami also would have salary-cap issues, but they only would be on the hook for Williams' 2004 salary, in the range of $2.6 million-$3.4 million.

Williams, who turns 28 on Saturday, retired four days before training camp in 2004 after learning he had failed his third drug test. After studying at the California College of Ayurveda in Grass Valley, Calif., Williams has returned to the United States from a religious retreat in India.

In other Dolphins-related news, a 24-year-old Chicago woman who was the victim in a sexual-assault case in which four Notre Dame football players were charged with sexual assault said she will encourage everyone she knows to contact the Miami Dolphins and ask them not to keep free-agent safety Abram Elam.

Elam was the only one of the players convicted of the lesser charge of felony sexual battery and received an 18-month suspended sentence, two years' probation and 200 hours of community service.

In court, the woman had testified that after a night out with the girls at a downtown dance club in South Bend, Ind., former safety Justin Smith, invited her to his off-campus house for a party. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel does not in most cases identify victims of sexual assault in order to protect the privacy of the alleged victim. She said while she and Smith were watching the movie Cruel Intentions, Elam, safety Donald Dykes and receiver Lorenzo Crawford eventually arrived, and later the sexual battery took place. In a separate trial, Dykes was acquitted of three charges, including rape and conspiracy to commit rape. The cases against Crawford and Smith were dismissed before reaching trial. All four were expelled.

Saban said earlier this week that the team conducted an extensive background check on Elam, and that he received positive reports. "I didn't think that was really fair to him based on our research in what he has done to show he has learned from his lesson and having done a very positive job in trying to get himself moving in the right direction," Saban said.